News April 6, 2019: A new version, 1.7.0, is now available which mostly features minor bug fixes to the code to make sure we can build/install on more architectures. The new version also fixes an issue where two coast guard ships could appear in the campaign missions. September 10, 2017: There have been a few minor updates to Search and Rescue. Two new landing areas/objects have been added to the Los Angeles map. The first is a US Coast Guard ship, which can be found a few miles west of the LAX airfield. The second is an aircraft carrier which is sandwiched between the mainland and Catalina island. A new mission has been added which uses the aircraft carrier. Campaigns can now use these two new locations. Updated program and data files have been uploaded with the version number 1.6.0. September 20, 2012: An update to Search and Rescue is available for download. This new version, 1.5.0, contains a number of minor bug fixes. Compiler warnings have been cleared up and support for Y2 has been mostly removed as Y2 is no longer maintained (or packaged in most distributions). We have added a new configuration target, "BSD". This target is very similar to the "Linux" target, but defaults to the Clang compiler rather than the GNU GCC compiler. This is to allow developers to test against both compilers and simplify building on FreeBSD as they migrate to Clang. August 7, 2011: A new version of Search and Rescue is now available. Version 1.4.0 brings some new changes to the table, mostly bug fixes. The B-47 helicopter should no longer hover above the landing pad during landings/take-offs. Crash sounds no longer loop and a configuration bug was fixed, which used to cause problems with the new, smooth drawing system. We're also expanding our platform support to stay in sync with Debian. Thanks to Nobuhiro and Hector for sending in patches! Also, our sister project, SaRII was voted one of the 100 best free and high quality Linux games. I think Hector, Wolfpack and, perhaps ourselves, should be proud of this praise. April 4, 2011: A couple of quick announcements. First up, Search and Rescue has been forked and we have some friendly competition in the form of the SaR II project. SaR II puts all data and program files in one large package, making it easier to install on operating systems where Search and Rescue is not included in the package repositories. They've also done some great work with the graphics and joystick support and have kindly shared their improvements with us. We in turn will be sharing our bug fixes and improvements with SaR II with the plan of keeping both projects compatible. This project, while working to incorporate the improvements from SaR II, will attempt to maintain backward compatibility and work with downstream projects, like Debian, Ubuntu and FreeBSD. Should you have any questions about the fork, please e-mail us. The next announcement is we have released a new version of Search and Rescue. The game now included improved graphics, music playing has been fixed, smoke now rises more realistically and it's possible to crash into fires. We've included improved joystick support and the HUD now displays both altitude above sea level and above the ground. Most of these upgrades came from SaR II and we thank that project for their kind help. Should you find that the new, smooth graphics are not to your liking, it is possible to revert to the old style of image drawing. The project's makefile (sar/Makefile) contains a flag on line five (5) that reads "-DNEW_GRAPHICS". Changing that flag to read "-DOLD_GRAPHICS" and re-compiling will restore the old behaviour. Please download and try the new Search and Rescue and let us know what you think. March 8, 2011: I'm happy to announce a new release of Search and Rescue, version 1.2.0. This release includes some minor bug fixes. Engine sounds now turn on/off properly. Hector gave us some patches to improve the way humans on the ground work. We no longer spam the console with messages about fires and some fixes for joystick support were added. We additionally have a new data file (version 1.1.0) available now through the download page. This data file contains a fix for the B47 aircraft. Dennis found it wasn't positioned properly and this could cause the craft to crash under normal landing conditions. Clear skies! October 28, 2010: I am pleased to report that a volunteer, Hector, has stepped forward and provided the SAR project with a great new map and five new missions. These additional missions and map are fairly large (around 40MB) and will be offered as an add-on. For information on how to install this add-on, please see our Download page. Many thanks to Hector for all of his hard work. September 15, 2010: I am glad to be able to say we have a new version of Search And Rescue ready for your downloading (and playing) pleasure. This release, version 1.1.0, mostly cleans up some compatibility issues. We fixed some compiler bugs, added better joytsick support (thanks to Phil from the Debian project) and we addressed a number of bugs which were reported with some keyboards and video cards. While there aren't any fun new game elements in this version, there are a lot of fixes. So if you tried SAR before and it didn't work for you, give this release a try and let us know what you think. The new files and complete changelog can be found on our Download page. August 20, 2010: I am happy to report that Search and Rescue has been officially ported to the FreeBSD operating system. Users of that operating system, and its children, can download SAR from the FreeBSD Ports collection. June 4, 2010: I would like to announce that Search and Rescue 1.0.0 is now ready for download. This new version is mostly to polish up some minor issues we found in the previous release. The documentation has been touched up a little and we now include a script, installsardata which will automate installing the Data files. Sound support has been improved and most of the sound controls should work in the Options menu. We've also fixed a few bugs and compiler settings so SAR should now run on FreeBSD. No changes have been made to the Data file, so if you've installed SAR previously, you do not need to download a fresh copy of the Data file. Please let us know on the forum if you have any comments or run into any bugs. May 25, 2010: I am happy to report that we're trying to expand support to offer Search and Rescue on BSD. The next release, 1.0.0, should compile and run on FreeBSD and compatible systems. In the mean time, we will offer a package for PC-BSD users. You can grab a copy of the installer (in PBI format) from our download page. April 10, 2010: We're happy to announce a new release of Search and Rescue. This new version, 0.9.0, brings a few new things to the virtual table. The first is that Campaign mode has been added. You can read more about what sets Campaigns apart from other missions here. The other new item is that sound has been re-added, using the SDL library. Previously, we had used the Y2 sound server, but it has been discontinued and it was time to adopt a new sound system. Some of the sound settings haven't been implemented yet in the Options menu, but sound should function in the game. There has also been some clean up to the documentation. You can read the complete changelog for more details. Should you find a bug in this release, please let us know on the forum or visit our contact page. Please note there have been no changes to the Data file, so if you already have SAR installed, you only need to download the program package, not the data package. March 17, 2010: There is a new release, 0.8.4 on the download server. This version contains a few new items: There are five new (non-training) missions. The title screen has been updated with the project's new website address. All of the compiler warnings/errors (from gcc) have been fixed. Please try out the new release and tell us what you think on the forum. March 9, 2010: We've got a new forum set up. Everyone is welcome to come and chat about Search and Rescue. March 8, 2010: Today marks the re-launch of Search and Rescue, a game originally designed and created by WolfPack Entertainment. We are building on the original game, adding missions, fixing bugs and bringing Search and Rescue up to speed with modern times. If you'd like to join our team, please see the Contact Us page.